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Chicken with 40 Cloves of Garlic

We had friends over for dinner and I wanted to try a new chicken recipe that would feed a lot of people. I saw this recipe in my most recent library cookbook find, “Barefoot in Paris”. I knew immediately that I wanted to try it but I didn’t have dry wine, cognac or heavy cream so I adapted the recipe using chicken stock and 2% milk. I also used skinless, boneless chicken breast and less oil. I accidentally over salted the sauce so I added a bit more milk to mellow out the seasoning. It turned out really delicious. The garlic mellows in flavor and softens up – they just melt in your mouth. The chicken was tender and juicy while the sauce had terrific flavor. There were a lot of oohs and aahs, which is always nice to hear. The proof that everyone loved the chicken was an empty serving dish.

6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, trimmed of any fat and in half

1-2 tbsp of olive oil

Dried thyme to taste

Sea salt and fresh cracked pepper to taste

40 cloves of garlic

1 tbsp of butter

1 tbsp flour

1 2/3 cups of chicken broth

2 tbsp 2% milk (I ended up using about 1/4 cup)

1 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped

Separate the cloves of garlic and peel.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Place trimmed and halved chicken breast in a large zip lock bag. Pound the chicken breasts flat with a mallet until 1/2 inch thick. Season with sea salt, black pepper and thyme to taste.

Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. In batches, saute the chicken smooth side down first, until nicely browned, about 4 minutes. Flip the breasts and cook for 45 seconds then remove to a baking dish. Once all the chicken has been removed, add the garlic to the pot. Lower the heat and saute for 3-4 minutes, turning often; add the chicken stock, making sure to scrape all the brown goodies off the bottom of the pan. Season with sea salt, pepper and thyme if needed. Pour sauce over the chicken in the baking dish. Cover with a lid or tinfoil and bake for 20 minutes.

Once the chicken has baked, carefully remove the chicken and garlic cloves to a platter and cover with an aluminum foil tent to stay warm. Place the sauce in the large skillet that you cooked the meat in or a saucepan. In a small bowl, whisk together the flour and milk with a little bit of the sauce. Once it’s thoroughly mixed, slowly whisk the flour mixture back into the rest of the sauce. Add the butter to the sauce, raise the heat and boil for 3 minutes or until it’s nice and thick. Taste and re-season if needed. Pour the sauce over the chicken, garnish with fresh chopped parsley and serve. Enjoy.

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Comments

Hey there. I have tried this recipe about 2 years ago (give or take) and I’m getting ready to try it again. Do you have any suggestions for peeling garlic? We peeled and peeled, and banged the cloves in between bowls, and it still took an hour to get the garlic peeled. I don’t want to spend all night on it again.

Also, I’m gonna put this on my blog. Link it back to you so everyone can see where it originated from. If you have any problems with that, hit me up. Thanks.

Do you have one of those hand-held lime squeezers? Try putting the cloves in that and then crushing them. The skin comes right off then–you can peel a whole head in thirty seconds or so. You could also try doing it with a heavy knife handle if you don’t have a small squeezer.

Hi! I’m a bit confused here — after the chicken and garlic have been baked, and the sauce has been prepared, do you pour the sauce over the chicken AND the whole, baked cloves? I can’t imagine those whole garlic cloves are particularly appetizing, but that just might be my taste!

When you roast garlic, it gets very soft and mellow and has a wonderful flavor. Also, it doesn’t give you the “garlic breath” like other garlic does. For a quick peel, there is a garlic peeler from Pamperedchef.com that makes it a snap. It is just a soft plastic white tube, you place garlic in it and roll it on the counter – instantly peeled. Very cool.

I made this last night and it was delicious! I used 2 large bulbs of garlic, not sure how many cloves that was. I also used a little more chicken broth because once I added the milk/flour mixture to the pan, it thickened very fast and the flour wasn’t all incorporated. But I added about another half cup of heated broth and it turned it great! Not too overpowering on the garlic side…it was just perfect. I served it with a side of short cut pasta and tossed it in the leftover sauce. It was a perfect Sunday dinner!

Tip for peeling garlic: Remove gloves from bulb and place them all into a plastic bowl with a lid. Shake like crazy. Enjoy peeled garlic!